Viral claim, images suggesting President Boakai was injured in a plane incident, not from Liberia

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Claim: A Facebook user, Susan Gbangaye, claims, “Boakai sustained significant injuries to his leg” following a rough landing of a private jet at the Roberts International Airport.

Verdict: False! The Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) confirmed that the president and all passengers were safely evacuated from the plane without injury. Additionally, the images circulating with the claim are from a 2016 incident involving a Thai Airways flight.

Full Text

Flights were temporarily disrupted at Liberia’s main airport on Thursday night, May 29, 2025, after a private jet carrying President Joseph Boakai almost crashed while landing.

Following the incident, a Facebook user, Susan Gbangaye, claimed that the president sustained significant injuries in his leg.

In her May 29, 2025, post, Susan said,

“Sources indicate that Boakai sustained significant injuries to his legs.”

The post has since been greeted with mixed reactions from social media users.

Some of the comments made under the post include:

Dyujay Pac Dave: Wow, God doesn’t sleep, I remembered our man dem praying for President Weah to die in a plane crash. But thank God, brother Boakai only sustained a minor injury, not death, because we don’t want to see Jeremiah Koung as President.

Christiana T. Barleah: The public will pay you one day; keep creating fake news only to seek public attention.

As of June 3, 2024, the post has generated over 122 reactions, 275 comments, and 27 shares.

Due to the potential of the claim being misleading, DUBAWA decided to investigate it. 

Verification

The researcher first contacted the claimant, Susan Gbangaye, regarding the source of her claim and some evidence to support it, but she did not respond.

The researcher also reviewed an official statement published by the LAA on May 29, 2025, contradicting the claim. 

In paragraph three of the statement, the LAA said:

“Notwithstanding the incident, President Boakai and other passengers on board the flight were safely evacuated unharmed [not hurt or damaged], in keeping with the airport’s emergency response system.”

A screenshot of the LAA statement

DUBAWA then conducted a reverse image search using TinEye. The results show that the first image posted by the claimant was initially published on April 14, 2016, about an incident involving a Thai Airways Boeing 777 that encountered turbulence on a flight from Jakarta to Bangkok. 

A screenshot of the TinEye search result

Conclusion

The claim that President Joseph Boakai sustained injuries during the May 29, 2025, plane incident is false. An official statement from the Liberia Airport Authority confirms that all passengers, including the president, were safely evacuated without harm. Furthermore, the viral images used to support the claim are unrelated to the incident and originate from a 2016 Thai Airways event in Asia.